Mary de Bohun (c. 1369/70[a] – 4 June 1394) was the first wife ofHenry Bolingbroke, Earl of Northampton, who after her death became King Henry IV. As she died before her husband came to the throne, Mary was never queen. She and Henry had six children together, including the futureHenry V.
Mary and her elder sister,Eleanor de Bohun, were the heiresses of their father's substantial possessions.[1] Eleanor became the wife ofThomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, the youngest child ofEdward III.[1] In an effort to keep the entire inheritance for himself and his wife, Thomas of Woodstock pressured the child Mary into becoming a nun.[4] In a plot withJohn of Gaunt, Mary's aunt took her from Thomas' castle atPleshey in Essex back to Arundel, whereupon she was married to Henry Bolingbroke, the futureHenry IV of England.[4]
Mary married Henry—then known as Bolingbroke—on 5 February 1381,[5] atArundel Castle. It was atMonmouth Castle inWales, one of her husband's possessions, that Mary gave birth to her first child, the futureHenry V, on 16 September 1386. Her second child,Thomas, was born probably at London shortly before 25 November 1387.[6]
^"Mary (born in 1369-70) was naturally a matter of considerable interest to Buckingham. As long as she remained single, the entire Bohun inheritance would fall to him.[1]
^According to some sources,[7][8] in 1382 she had a son who died shortly after birth. This is incorrect, as it is based on a misreading of a contemporary account book, byJ. H. Wylie, in his biography of Henry IV (published in the 19th century). Wylie missed a line which made clear that the boy in question was Mary's nephew,Humphrey, 2nd Earl of Buckingham. There is no evidence that there was any child born to Mary at this time (when she was only about 14).[6]
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